A New Beginning: The Minnesota State volleyball team will open its 2011 campaign in the Alaska Fairbanks volleyball tournament in Fairbanks, Alaska. MSU will take part in four contests while traveling to The Land of the Midnight Sun. On Thursday the Mavericks open the 2011 season against Alaska Fairbanks. Their remaining three matches come against Grand Canyon State on Friday before two games on Saturday against Alaska Fairbanks and Dallas Baptist.

A Look Back: The Minnesota State Maverick volleyball team look’s to improve on their successful
2010 campaign in which they competed in the NCAA Division II Volleyball tournament.
The Mavericks finished the season with an overall record of 20-8 and a 12-7 record in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).

The Record Book: Last year’s Maverick volleyball team made their mark in program history. Amanda Beekman recorded 345 kills to become third all-time in MSU history in career kills as she finished her Maverick career with 1,417.

New Assist Leader?: Last year setter Brittany Stamer (Hutchinson, Minn.) led the Mavericks with 1,191 assists as she became the fifth Maverick to join the MSU 3,000 assist club. Stamer has 3,435 career assists heading into her senior season as she needs 933 more to become the school’s all-time assist leader. Jen Blendermann (1999-2002) currently owns the all-time assist record with 4,367. Stamer has averaged 1,145 assists per season throughout her first three years.

To view the rest of this week's volleyball notes click here